


Kent, London 2012

by nonuniqueindie (chyeahnursey)



Series: Watch that Half Twist [2]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Gen, M/M, Olympics AU, canon typical drinking, synchronized divers au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-07
Updated: 2017-01-07
Packaged: 2018-09-15 05:38:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9221387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chyeahnursey/pseuds/nonuniqueindie
Summary: Remember, at this point Kent is 22 and Bitty is 19 - he's born in 1993, not 1995.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Remember, at this point Kent is 22 and Bitty is 19 - he's born in 1993, not 1995.

It’s crazy that it came down to just six dives, after the years that Kent and Andy have spent training and practicing, but in the end its six dives, and they’re good dives, not the best, but good enough for bronze, and for them that’s enough. Kent doesn’t remember much of the medal ceremony, just the weight of the medal settling on his chest, but remembers everything about seeing their families afterwards, getting slammed into by kids from both sides, hugging his mom and Andy’s mom, taking what seemed like a million photos with every possible combination of family members. Getting back to the Athlete’s Village was a challenge, but Kent and Andy finally made it back to their room and had a second to let it all sink in.

“This is real,” Kent said, staring down at his medal in awe. “We won an Olympic medal.”

“We won an Olympic medal,” Andy repeated, staring back at him. The two of them were silent for a minute, then they started laughing. “We did it, we did it, we did it,” Andy grabbed Kent in a hug and Kent hugged back as hard as he could.

They stayed like that for a minute, then Kent pulled back. “Come on, let’s get ready for dinner - and the party.”

“Oooh, eager to show off your medal to all the other athletes?” Andy raised an eyebrow.

“I’m never taking it off,” Kent tells him, then bolts for the bathroom and locks the door behind him.

“Parse, you asshole!” Andy bangs on the door. “I called first.”  
“I need to get prettyyyyy,” Kent calls back.

“You’re already pretty, I need to get pretty,” Andy sighs, exasperated.  
—

Kent, true to his word, is wearing his medal to the party tonight. He’s too happy about it to actually play it casual, but he’s doing his best to fake it. He and Andy get stopped every few feet on their way in, other athletes congratulating them and handshakes and hugs and selfies. They eventually end up at the drinks, and they each grab a beer before getting their asses handed to them by Larissa at beer pong. She’s rotating through a couple different partners, currently kicking ass with a girl from the tennis team. Kent and Andy bow to her superior pong skills and get the hell out of there before they can get too embarrassed. Kent ends up on his own on the dance floor, Andy waving to him from the side and starting up a conversation with one of the beach volleyball players. Though it had started out as a swim team party, it had only stayed that way for approximately 2 seconds. Kent finds himself in the middle of a group of gymnasts, and discovers that they are all fantastic dancers. They’re dancing and yelling along to the lyrics of every song that comes on. The dance floor fills up and everyone is pressed together and considering Kent is only on his second beer, he probably shouldn’t be happy with that many people being pressed up around him, but he lets himself relax and have some fun. The gymnastics team basically passes him from person to person so he always has someone to dance with. He finds himself pressed up against a smaller blonde boy who is enthusiastically singing along to California Gurls.

“Congratulations Kent!” The boy has to practically yell it to be heard over the music. He points at the medal, just in case Kent hadn’t heard him.

Kent smiles at him and leans in. “Thanks,” he says, trying to get close enough to be heard, but not enough to invade personal space. He probably doesn’t manage it. “Hey, you wanna grab a drink? I’m dying out here.” He fans at his face.

“Sure,” the other boy says, and Kent definitely doesn’t hear a stutter there, and he definitely doesn’t see his eyes widen. The two of them make their way out of the packed dance floor and over to the bar area. Kent waves down the bartender and orders two beers.

“Kent,” he turns and sticks out his hand.

“Eric,” the other boy - Eric - says, and shakes his hand. “My friends and I got to watch the diving today, you and Andy were amazing.”

“Thanks,” Kent smiled at him. “You know a lot about diving?”

“A bit,” Eric shrugged, the side of his mouth quirking up into a half smile. “You should watch that back two and a half, you’re a half second off from Andy.”

“Andy said the same thing,” Kent scrunched up his nose.

“Ah, so he’s the smart one then,” Eric said.

“And I’m the pretty one,” Kent winked at him. “Oh, free table, let’s go.” He grabs their beer bottles in one hand and rests his other hand on Eric’s back to guide him over to the table. He drops down into the little booth and Eric slides in next to him. Kent lets his knee fall against Eric’s under the table as he slides the beer bottle back over to him. They don’t really have a chance to talk, as their table quickly becomes a revolving door of other athletes. Kent can still see Andy on the other side of the room, and waves him over, but Andy shakes his head and goes back to the conversation with the volleyball player. He thinks, but can’t be sure, that Andy smirks at the back of Eric’s head like he knows what Kent is thinking. Kent’s tempted to flip him off.

Eric seems to know athletes from almost every other sport and is just as busy chatting as Kent is, but even when he turns away to look at someone else, he keeps his knee pressed up against Kent’s. Kent keeps bumping their elbows together and even drops his hand down on Eric’s knee a couple of times. Finally, there’s a lull in their visitors and Kent brushes his hand against Eric’s elbow. “Wanna get out of here?”

“Yes,” Eric says. They abandon their drinks on the table and Kent is definitely intending to head back to the complex he’s staying at, but he turns to make sure Eric is following him and catches a glimpse of Eric biting his lower lip and Kent stops so suddenly that Eric bumps into him.

“Um-” Eric starts to say, but Kent interrupts him.

“You’re really cute, you know that?” Kent says softly. Eric’s face goes bright red. Kent takes a quick look around - they’re in a small hallway tucked behind a staircase and no one is around. He puts a hand on Eric’s cheek, and Eric leans up, and Kent kisses him.

Eric ends up pressed against the wall, his hands in Kent’s hair, Kent’s other hand wrapped around his waist and pulling him close.

Kent pulls away when he has to breathe, and pulls his medal over his head, dislodging Eric’s hands.

“What are you doing?” Eric asks as Kent places the medal around his neck.

“Oh, I think that was at least worth a bronze, don’t you?”

“Oh my lord, what kind of terrible line is that?” Eric laughs. “And here I thought you had game, Kent Parson.”

“I’ve never had complaints before,” Kent tells him, settling his hands on Eric’s waist again.

“Oh really?” Eric slides his hands up Kent’s arms. “I think I might have to lodge a formal complaint then, break your streak.”

“That was terrible too,” Kent tells him, and kisses him before he can say anything else.

Kent’s debating the merits of staying in the hallway versus going back to the complex, but he keeps getting distracted by Eric’s hands and lips when they’re interrupted by a female voice.

“Eric? Oh! Sorry!”

Eric pulls away from Kent to look at the girl. “Cait? Is something wrong?”

“Um, it’s Chowder - I can probably take care of it though, I mean - sorry.”

“That boy has no idea of his tolerance level, does he?” Eric leans his head back against the wall.

“Sorry,” Cait squeaks.

“No, it’s fine, I mean, I did say I would look after him tonight,” Eric sighs. “I’ll come find you in a minute, okay Cait?”

“Okay,” Cait nods at him and hightails it back around the corner.

“Sorry,” Eric apologizes, looking at Kent. “Chris is 16, I promised I’d look after him while we were here.”

“Cute and responsible,” Kent says, a small smile on his face.

“I don’t want to leave,” Eric says.

“But you have to.”

Eric scrunches up his nose. “Yeah.”

They’re quite for a moment, just looking at each other.

“Oh, your medal!” Eric pulls it off and puts it back around Kent’s neck. Kent closes his hands over Eric’s and pulls him in for another kiss.

“Go look after the rookie before he dies,” Kent says.

“You’re the one holding me in place,” Eric points out.

“True,” Kent pulls him in for another kiss before he releases his hands. “Okay, you better go.”

“Bye,” Eric smiles up at him, kisses his cheek, and follows after Cait. Kent sighs and leans against the wall. He lets himself mope for a second, then heads back into the main room to find Andy. He’s at the bar surrounded by a bunch of guys that Kent is pretty sure are on the rowing team, and they have a line of shots in front of them. Andy spots him immediately and holds up a shot for him.

“Tequila?” Andy asks, raising an eyebrow.

“I won’t say no to that,” Kent says, reaching out for it and knocking back the shot. The rowing team cheers and someone hands him another shot. Andy does a shot with him, and they migrate over to a table with a couple pitchers of beer and someone brings over an entire tray of shots which are quickly divided up between everyone.

Sure, it wasn’t the way Kent thought the evening was going to end, but hey, it was still a pretty good night. He and Andy stumble back to their room around 2am, Kent singing some really off-key Britney Spears, Andy laughing at him the entire way. Kent falls into bed, too tired to even change out of his clothes.


End file.
